This page lists tropes associated with the X-Men and their associates in Child of the Storm, if they aren't listed elsewhere.
Beware: Spoilers for Child of the Storm are unmarked.
X-Men
The main alternate heroic super-team to the Avengers, and the oldest, with various iterations dating back to 1962. open/close all folders
In General
- Badass Crew: Every iteration of the team matures into this.
- Face–Heel Turn: Suffered Magneto's, Mystique's, and, to the Hellfire Club, Angel Salvadore's.
- One-Man Army: Most X-Men and former X-Men, particularly the First Class, qualify.
- Rag Tag Bunch Of Misfits: The one commonality among the X-Men is that, to one extent or another, they're all outsiders.
Charles Xavier
Charles Xavier a.k.a. Professor Xavier
The most powerful Telepath on Earth and Big Good of the currently secret mutant community. Also godfather to Tony Stark and very plugged in to the nascent superhero community. Grandfatherly and kind, he likes helping people but equally, is not to be underestimated. Currently keeping secrets from both Tony and Harry, something which he does not enjoy doing. He has recently revealed to Harry that Jean is Harry's cousin, and given his reasons for this.
- The Ace: Nobody human has anywhere near his level of telepathic skill, garnered through decades of experience. Combined with high Alpha-class level power, it's easy to see why very, very few villains want to cross him.
- Badass Boast: In chapter 75 of CoS, he gives one in the form of a Papa Wolf warning to Doctor Strange.If she is hurt because of this, if any of my students or staff are hurt... then even you will not be able to hide from me.
- Badass Teacher: Is implied to have destroyed Weapon X when they came after Wolverine and demonstrates his combat skills in the finale of Book I. He is also a teacher of many badasses, including, in the case of Sean, a Badass Teacher or two. In any case, he impresses Odin, which says all that needs to be said.
- Beware the Nice Ones: He is kind, wise, and grandfatherly, being an excellent teacher, and a gentle and patient therapist. He's also a committed pacifist. Pretty much everyone agrees that he's a lovely guy. However, until the birth of Jean and Maddie, he was the most powerful human psychic on Earth (and will still hold that title for a while yet), he knows every trick in the book, and he has an extraordinary degree of insight into human nature thanks to his powers and psychiatric training. As his folder quote shows, he can get very dangerous.
- To put it in perspective - he managed to break none other than Sinister himself with mere words - words uttered in a tone directly compared by the narrative to the one Magneto used before... dismantling the Winter Guard.
- Big Good: Of the mutant community. All of them look up to and respect him-it's heavily implied that even in Magneto's Dark Messiah days, he kept plenty of respect for Xavier.
- Birds of a Feather: Unsurprisingly, he's friendly with Dumbledore, who's implied to have given him a few pointers on raising and training superpowered teenagers.
- Break Them by Talking: He pulled this on none other than Sinister.
- Chrome Dome Psi: Completely bald and one the most powerful telepaths in the world.
- Deadpan Snarker: Snarks at Sebastian Shaw II and, emphasising the deadpan part, at Jean's belief that there's nothing whatsoever between her and Scott.
- Famed In-Story: His telepathic skills and power, and status as Big Good of the nascent mutant community, have made him this - in certain circles, at least.
- A Father to His Men: As the folder quote demonstrates, he takes it to Papa Wolf extents when required.
- The Fettered: Is devoted to his students and his dream, and has incredible willpower, which helps him prevent himself from becoming another Magneto.
- Good Is Not Soft: He is usually as sweet as they come, a total Nice Guy. However, as Betsy remarks, you do not want to make him angry, or he will show you exactly why he's considered one of the most powerful human psychics in history (until the manifestation of Jean and Maddie's powers, the strongest of all time). Namely, he cows Sinister by threatening to peel his mind "like an orange" if he doesn't talk.
- I Am Having Soul Pains: Thanks to the fact that he was using Cerebro at the time, he's worst hit by the wave of dark magic that Gravemoss unleashes, which puts him into a coma and very nearly kills him.
- Keeping Secrets Sucks: Is not happy in the slightest about having to keep Harry and Jean apart (due to a predestination paradox) and seems rather relieved when he finally gets to tell Harry. Nor does he seem particularly pleased that he can't tell Tony the truth about his mother.
- Martial Pacifist:
- He doesn't like fighting and is scrupulous about using his powers for good, but there's a reason that HYDRA never went after his students or staff. And when Weapon X tried, it's implied that he shut them down, hard, before methodically destroying them. It's also demonstrated during the X-Men's section of the Battle of London, where he's slaughtering demons by the thousand, and in the sequel when, using tones directly compared to those Magneto used before unleashing hell on the Winter Guard, he broke Sinister with just words.
- It's noted by those in the know that the Askani wouldn't have been happy about letting him leave them. It's also noted that if they were smart, they really wouldn't have argued too much.
- Mind over Manners: Is absolutely scrupulous about this and teaches his students to be this way. Judging by Betsy, though, he's aware of the grey areas.
- Mind Rape: As seen above, he's normally utterly scrupulous about avoiding this trope and respecting other people's minds. However, if pushed, he will resort to it, threatening Sinister that if he doesn't talk, he [Xavier] will take apart every mental defence Sinister has, leaving his mind 'as bare and open as a freshly peeled orange.'
- Nice Guy: The man quite obviously wants to help people in any way he can.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome:
- As a young man, he helped to rescue Alison Carter from the Red Room, and shortly after, Ilyana Rasputin from Faerie.
- When Weapon X came after Wolverine, well... it's not clear what happened exactly, but they're spoken of in past tense, and it took them around a decade to even begin getting back together.
- Old Master: He's well into his seventies, undisclosed deaging incident notwithstanding, and it's only refined his badassery, as he demonstrates in chapter 76 when he mows down demons by the thousand with his telepathy.
- Papa Wolf: See Badass Boast. Do not threaten his students or his school, or he will make you regret it.
- Psychic Powers:
- The most powerful (human) telepath on Earth, though he indicates that Jean and Maddie will one day take this crown, with Harry close behind. In the meantime, with the aid of Cerebro and a little guiding from Loki, he managed to get in telepathic contact with Odin.
- Chapter 75 establishes that Jean, Maddie and Harry, in fact, have already got more raw power than he does. On the other hand, he's far more skilled and experienced, and in the opinion of Phil Coulson, not one to make idle boasts, he could still take any one of them "to the cleaners."
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Pulls an absolutely savage one on Sinister in chapter 25 of Ghosts.
- Secret-Keeper: For more than a few people, but most particularly for the mysterious 'Angel of Cuba'.
- Taught by Experience: After getting hit by the wave of dark psychic energy unleashed by Gravemoss and being knocked unconscious for months, he installs psychic 'circuit breakers' in Cerebro to take the brunt of any further blasts. This soon proves helpful during the backlash of Harry and Maddie's psychic duel, and later on against Dracula.
- There Are No Therapists: Averts this, having managed to help Harry Dresden with his (ironic) pyrophobia and helped Harry Thorson work through an issue or two. Ironically, he seems to be the only therapist, with pretty much everyone directed to him. This is Lampshaded repeatedly, before the explanation that he's not the only one, but he is by far the best.
- It turns out that one of his former students became one in her own right: Dani Moonstar. She's currently Harry's therapist.
- Timey-Wimey Ball: Why he couldn't tell Harry or Jean that they were related - a Stable Time Loop was at work.
- Tranquil Fury: Although usually as even-keeled as they come, he can slip into this mode if he even thinks someone might threaten his students, as Brother Smith of the Askani discovers. It is noted that when Essex refers to Maddie as a "weapon," his tone becomes eerily similar to that of Magneto's, just before the latter delivered a spectacularly brutal Curb-Stomp Battle to the Winter Guard.
- With Great Power: As noted above, Xavier is always very careful about how and when he uses his powers, because he's aware of just how dangerous he could be without restraint.
- Worf Effect: On the receiving end of this from Dracula himself in Ghosts of the Past. Even the greatest mortal telepath alive is unable to defeat the Vampire Monarch who's at least as powerful as him, and ten times more experienced. Though as is later revealed, the counter attack mostly just short-circuited Cerebro (which, after the 'familicide' incident back in chapter 44 of CoS nearly wound up killing him, has had circuit breakers installed to protect its user) and gave him enough of a headache to keep him out of the game.
Magneto
See his entry under Other Heroes and Allies
The First Class
The First Class of X-Men, formed in 1962 to fight the Hellfire Club during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Most of them have left the Institute and had lives and families of their own, though they stay in contact with their mentor.
Tropes about the First Class
- Arch-Enemy: The Hellfire Club, who they universally despise.
- Badass Teacher: Most of them have dabbled in teaching at some point or another.
- Face–Heel Turn: Mystique and Magneto, though the latter pulled a Heel–Face Turn later on.
- In Harm's Way: Hank observes that most of the team wound up seeking out new dangerous experiences after the team broke up.
- Noodle Incident: No one's entirely sure exactly what happened during the battle of Cuba, other than that it involved Namor, a tidal wave, and the mysterious 'Angel of Cuba,' who fought Namor in the skies.
- No one's entirely sure what happened with the Krakoa incident, either, other than it involved a living island, apparently a whole bunch of mutant life-force, and all those who went there wound up de-aged by a few decades.
- Old Superhero: All the members have grown seriously powerful over the years.
- Older Than They Look: Thanks to the Krakoa incident.
- Retired Badass: Most of them, though most of them wind up being called out of retirement.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: On behalf of Howard and Maria Stark.
- Secret-Keeper:
- For the identity of the 'Angel of Cuba' and for a future Harry, who went back in time to the 1960s by accident- though the two could well be one and the same.
- It's also hinted that they know exactly what happened to Peggy Carter.
Colonel Alexander Summers a.k.a. Havok
- "Forgive? Maybe. Forget? Definitely not. I remember what you did that day, and what you tried to do."
The grandfather of Scott Summers (and via cloning, Gambit) and a retired Colonel in the US Army, having served in Vietnam. Like Sean Cassidy, a member of the First Class of X-Men and with the physique of a man in his prime for much the same reason. A candidate for the Shadow Initiative.
- Ace Pilot: According to
Word of God, he's a wiz in a cockpit. - Colonel Badass: He earned his rank and he's willing to stand up to freaking Namor.
- Dating Catwoman: For a long time, he dated Emma Frost. It didn't work out. They had at least one child first, though, and two living grandchildren - Scott and Gambit.
- Flying Firepower: Shoots energy blasts and, according to Cassidy, can fly in the right suit.
- Hot-Blooded: More than happy to settle a decades old grudge with Namor at the drop of a hat.
- Old Soldier: He's a Vietnam veteran with a Distinguished Service Cross and a Silver Star, as well as being the grandfather of Scott Summers and Gambit.
- Old Superhero: He's a superhuman with incredibly destructive powers, decades of experience using them,
- Outliving One's Offspring: A car crash killed Scott's parents and younger brother, so the Colonel lost a child and grandson.
- Out of Focus: Of the Shadow Initiative, he gets the least narrative focus.
Agent Sean Cassidy a.k.a. Banshee
See his entry under Other Heroes and Allies
Doctor Hank McCoy
The team doctor of the X-Men, as well as resident team genius, specialising in genetics. Also happens to look like a giant fluffy blue teddy-bear when not wearing an image inducer. While just as friendly as that description implies, he's also capable of mixing it up with monsters and demons when he has to.
- Badass Teacher: A teacher at the Institute and also capable of tearing demons to pieces.
- Catchphrase: As per usual, "Oh my stars and garters."
- Cat Folk: Reminiscent of either a giant teddy bear or a big cat, growling like the latter when particularly irritated.
- Commander Contrarian: Robustly disagrees with the Professor not telling Harry or Jean about each other, despite knowing full well that he can't because of a predestination paradox. While he accepts this intellectually, he is very unhappy about it.
- Cultured Badass: As at home with Shakespeare as he is with test tubes and complex mathematical formulae, and as at home with beating up monsters as both.
- Deadpan Snarker: From time to time, usually to tease Harry.
- Drinking Contest: With Hagrid and Sean, off-screen, in chapter 68. He either wins or gives Hagrid a very close run for his money - at the very least, they both drink Sean well under the table.
- The Medic: Serves as this to the X-Men.
- Nice Guy: Happily signs a copy of one of his articles with a personalised inscription for Hermione, who found it helpful when dealing with her newly manifested magic, and is uncomfortable keeping Harry from Jean.
- Number Two: To Professor Xavier.
- Omnidisciplinary Scientist: As comfortable with computers as he is with genetics and the development of mutant powers.
- Off Screen Moment Of Awesome: Drinks Sean under the table in a Drinking Contest with him and Hagrid at the Hog's Head, and leaves Hagrid somewhat hungover as well.
- Secret-Keeper: He's implied to know about Hermione's true heritage, judging by how he reacted when first meeting her.
- The Smart Guy: For the X-Men, jointly with Professor Xavier.
Raven Xavier a.k.a. Mystique
Shapeshifting mutant, mother of Kurt Wagner, foster-sister of Charles Xavier, and as yet unseen on-screen.
- Action Mom: To Kurt, not that he knows it.
- Face–Heel Turn: Underwent one after leaving the X-Men.
- The Ghost: Mentioned, but has yet to appear on-screen.
That we know of. Word of God is that she's around, doing her own thing. - Voluntary Shapeshifting: Her signature power.
Armando Munoz a.k.a. Darwin
A mutant with the power to adapt to survive. The elder Sebastian Shaw, formerly known as Klaus Schmidt, killed him. His death is a large part of why the First Class hate the Hellfire Club so much.
- Black Dude Dies First: Unfortunately - though he might be Not Quite Dead.
Angel Salvadore
A member of the X-Men who joined up with the Hellfire Club.
- Face–Heel Turn: Joined the Hellfire Club.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Not mentioned, and was probably murdered by Magneto during one of his many purges of the Club.
Alison 'Ali' Carter
Sister of Peggy Carter. Actually, daughter of Peggy and Steve. Member of the First Class and a good enough friend to the likes of Hank McCoy that she lets him call her Ali. Implied to have been present during the 1962 Cuba Incident.
See her entry under Child of the Storm: Other Heroes and Allies.
Dr Moira MacTaggert
A scientist and a former CIA Agent, who worked with the First Class of X-Men during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
- Badass Bookworm: Former CIA Agent and current top scientist, with Howard Stark himself having praised her as 'the next Charlotte Auerbach' (a famed geneticist).
- Composite Character: Of her films incarnation and her comics incarnation, having apparently moved to Muir Island at some point in between the Wizarding War and the present.
- The Ghost: She is mentioned several times, but has not appeared as of yet.
- Refused the Call: Sort of. She turns down Wisdom's approach to work with MI13, but offers Muir Island as a resource/fallback point.
Howard Stark
Father of Tony Stark, helped out the First Class in their battle against the Hellfire Club, before ultimately becoming Xavier's agent in the Hellfire Club, with his wife, Maria Stark. Was ultimately murdered by the Hellfire Club when they caught on.
- Abusive Parents: Emotionally distant with Tony at the best of times, though this was at least partially to protect him as he got involved with the Hellfire Club. This left Tony with epic Daddy Issues.
- The Alcoholic: He's where Tony inherited his drinking habits from.
- Daddy Issues: Inflicted them on his son.
- Generation Xerox: Flirtatious Gadgeteer Genius, Bunny-Ears Lawyer, and Jerk with a Heart of Gold? You could easily be talking about his son. Steve reflects that had Howard not become closed off and cynical, he and Tony would've had a lot of fun together.
- Marriage of Convenience: To Maria, who was also known as Tessa a.k.a. Sage of the X-Men.
- The Mole: For Xavier, within the Hellfire Club, playing the part of White King. It's implied that this was what got him killed.
- Odd Friendship: With Magneto, which lasted even through the latter's darkest days, with Howard being one of the people, along with Xavier and Dumbledore, who Magneto went to for help with Wanda when her powers manifested. When Howard was murdered, Magneto was beyond furious.
- Parental Neglect: Did this to Tony, partially since he Took a Level in Jerkass and partially since he was working as Xavier's spy in the Hellfire Club.
- Parental Substitute: To Alison Carter, who in turn played this to Tony.
- Posthumous Character: Died a few decades back.
- The Smart Guy: A brilliant scientist, nearly as brilliant as his son.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: Suggested to be caused first by the loss of Steve, then by the disappearance of Peggy Carter in 1962. As Steve sadly concedes, the Howard he knew and the Howard that Tony knew were very different people.
'The Angel of Cuba'
The mysterious powerhouse of the First Class of X-Men, who fought both Magneto and Namor and gave a good account of himself. Suspected to be a time travelling Harry.
- Flying Brick: Probably, considering he went up against both Magneto and Namor, the latter a Flying Brick himself, especially likely if it's Harry from the future.
- Off Screen Moment Of Awesome: Went up against Magneto, Namor, and a tidal wave of the latter's conjuration, and did pretty well.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Because no one knows his real name - or rather, the First Class do, but they're not saying.
Wolverine
Logan Howlett a.k.a. Wolverine
- Easy, bub. Getting angry won't solve anything. Unless you have someone to take it out on.
The one, the only Wolverine, formerly known as Weapon X. A Living Weapon, he's currently a teacher at the Xavier Institute, though Fury drafts him to protect the President from the Winter Soldier, since he's practically the only one who could do it and survive.
- The Ageless: He's looked much the same since WWII.
- Animal Themed Super Being: Though based on the Hugh Jackman incarnation, he's hairy, violent and intensely stubborn - in other words, just like his namesake.
- Anti-Hero: As usual.
- Arch-Enemy: Sabretooth. He's implied to have a past with Fenrir Greyback, too - and not a nice one.
- Audible Sharpness: The (in)famous 'snikt'.
- Badass in a Nice Suit: As part of the Secret Service, to his discomfort.
- Badass Teacher: Teaches the new generation of X-Men to fight, and is clearly no slouch in that department himself.
- Berserk Button: Fury presses these to get him to help out by bodyguarding the President.
- The Bus Came Back: He, along with Uhtred, Diana, and Gambit, show up to help Harry, Carol, and Stevie against Grey Court vampires during the Bloody Hell arc. While Logan doesn't get much focus, he proves to be highly effective against them.
- Catchphrase: His 'I'm the best there is at what I do' is referenced.
- Deadpan Snarker: When Harry asks what he teaches, as in the X2: X-Men United, he snarks "Art."
- Determinator: He'll shrug off just about anything, given the chance.
- The Dreaded: He makes the Winter Soldier think Oh, Crap! when he hears the infamous 'snikt'.
- Friend to All Children: Somewhat downplayed, but it's clear that one of his Berserk Buttons is bad guys preying on children, and he's quite protective of Carol and Peter Parker during Bloody Hell.
- Healing Factor: Famously. It allows him to ultimately shrug off a thermite tipped RPG to the face, though not without some trouble.
- Knife Fight: Gets into one with the Winter Soldier in chapter 70. It's a dead heat until the Winter Soldier changes the game by blowing him up with an RPG.
- Mysterious Past: Aside from WWII, he doesn't remember much of it.
- Noodle Incident: Most of his life, at least to him.
- Just mentioning Fenrir Greyback to Logan is a Berserk Button, though it's unclear if they've met or if Logan just knows him by reputation.
- Off Screen Moment Of Awesome:
- Used to run black ops missions for SHIELD back in the day.
- His first fight with the Winter Soldier, back in 1986. It ended with the Soldier dropping a building on his head. Fury claims that the Soldier beat Logan up beforehand, though given that he was trying to get on Logan's nerves, this perhaps ought to be taken with a grain of salt.
- He's also battled Zemo before, with the implication being that it was during his Weapon X days.
- He, Uhtred, and Diana also mow through Grey Court vampires like a hot knife through an overused cliche in chapter 31, though it's not shown onscreen.
- Old Soldier: He's older than fellow old soldier Cap. How much older is unknown.
- Screaming Warrior: Gets into a bit of this while fighting the Winter Soldier and, later, the Grey Court.
- This Is Gonna Suck: On both ends of one: He inspires an Oh, Crap! moment in the Winter Soldier, then has one of these himself when the Winter Soldier pulls out his backup plan.
- Wolverine Claws: Duh.
- Undying Loyalty: To Xavier. It's clear that anyone threatening the Professor, even obliquely, will anger him greatly, and when Xavier is in a coma due to Gravemoss' psychic wave, Fury states that "Logan couldn't be pried out of Westchester with a crowbar."
Warren Worthington III
See his entry under Other Heroes and Allies.
Lady Betsy Braddock
See her entry under Other Heroes and Allies.
Jean Grey
See her entry under Harry's Friends.
Scott Summers (SPOILERS)
Scott Summers a.k.a. Cyclops
Grandson of Alexander Summers Senior, orphaned in a car crash and raised by his grandfather, before being sent to the Xavier Institute when his powers manifested. Proto-team leader of the modern X-Men. A bit uptight. Head over heels in love with Jean. Brother by cloning of Remy LeBeau a.k.a. Gambit, and all spoilers related to that are UNMARKED.
- Abled in the Adaptation: By the end of Ghosts, Strange has managed to find a way to repair the brain damage that causes his Power Incontinence, removing the need for his glasses. In the oneshots, he mentions enjoying seeing Jean outside of red hues for the first time.
- Action Hero: As is occasionally demonstrated.
- Adaptational Badass: Strange fixing his brain damage cures the Power Incontinence that plagued his various canon counterparts, giving him much more control over his Eye Beams. As a bonus, he also gains a secondary mutation, turning his body into a smoky crystal that lets him fire blasts from any part.
- Adaptational Relationship Change: His family tree has been jumbled around a bit - Alex Summers Senior is his grandfather (his namesake was Scott's tragically deceased younger brother), Gambit is his clone/brother, and his grandmother is none other than Emma Frost.
- All Love Is Unrequited: He's utterly devoted to Jean, to the point where Everyone Can See It. Everyone, that is, but the entirely oblivious Jean, who thinks that they're Just Friends. Xavier himself inwardly lampshades the absurdity of the fact that someone as smart and powerful as she is simply hasn't noticed. By the third book, there's a thriving betting pool that even the teachers are involved in.
- Badass Family: His grandfather Alex Summers senior is a member of the First Class and the Shadow Initiative, his grandmother is Emma Frost, a very powerful psychic and a high-ranking member of the Hellfire Club, and his cloned brother is Gambit.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Scott is generally described as a pretty kind person with a Big Brother Instinct, but he's also been trained by people like Xavier and Logan. When a particularly dumb classmate made a lewd remark about Jean, Scott told him to back off. Said classmate then asked if he was doing it because Jean was sleeping with him, then said 'damn, how much to get on that action?'. A furious Scott knocked him out with one punch (and then apologised to Jean afterwards). He also takes Emma Frost aback with his savage What the Hell, Hero? speech, affecting her enough that she turns to diamond on reflex to cope.
- Big Brother Instinct: Has this towards Bobby, and the Institute students as a whole.
- Blessed with Suck: He's very, very powerful... but he can't control his powers without artificial aid and he lives in mortal terror of hurting someone by accident. Strange eventually figures out how to fix his power problem.
- Blind Without Them: Not technically blind, but he destroys everything he sees. This has caused him no little angst over the years. Strange eventually figures out how to fix this.
- Broken Ace: He's a serious badass, but his powers mean he can't see without his glasses and he's an orphan.
- Chick Magnet: To an extent. Carol's noticed his good looks, and Maddie has expressed an interest. Even Jean, though currently Oblivious to Love, has done some looking, as well as her older sister, Sara. Since Gambit is his brother by cloning, this is unsurprising, and his looks are being given reassessment in-universe as a result.
- Clone Angst: He's unsurprisingly unhappy to find out that he's been cloned, but bears the clone no ill-will, firmly stating that Gambit is not, as he puts it "a bad copy of a better man", but a person - and his brother.
- Containment Clothing: His famous glasses, to contain his blasts.
- Disability Superpower: Famously, via brain damage, to the point where Strange observes that it's an odd multiversal recurrence - and is accordingly wary about messing with it. In chapter 73 of Ghosts, Strange reveals that, after four and a half years worth of study of Scott's brain, his mutation, and all the information that Essex collated on it - including any meddling he'd performed on either Scott or Remy - he's figured out how to fix it.
- Endearingly Dorky: Referred to as "endearingly awkward" by his grandmother, Emma Frost. She's not wrong, either.
- Eye Beams: As per usual. These are attested to as being powerful enough to blow up a mountain, and definitely destroy demons by the dozen.
- Foil: To his clone-brother, Gambit. He's relatively introverted and awkward, has serious self-esteem issues, is morally upright and straightforward, and very much part of a team. Gambit is a famously charming extrovert, morally pragmatic in his methods and about as straightforward as a pretzel, completely self-confident, and an instinctual loner (though he does seem happy enough at the Institute). However, both are very emotionally controlled, very careful in the use of their powers (which have literally blown up in their faces before), very skilled tacticians and analysts, and very firm in their principles and belief in freedom.
- Likewise, their relationship is also a foil to Jean and Maddie's. Their background shares a lot of similarities, right down to Essex's involvement and identical but superficially distinct appearances, and both Maddie and Gambit freaked out in their own ways. However, where Maddie was happy to make a new home with her sister and be more or less loved into submission, Gambit ran to find somewhere familiar to cope.
- Glowing Eyes of Doom: When he gets really angry, his eyes burn red, which becomes all the more obvious after he no longer needs his glasses.
- Innocently Insensitive: He's occasionally a bit emotionally oblivious, which on more than one occasion has got him shouted at by Jean. Which is still implied to be ringing in his ears, months later.
- Nice Guy: He's a genuinely nice person, if a little uptight, which is why Harry takes a liking to him. He also accepts Gambit as his brother without reserve, even though he understandably struggles a little with the concept of having been cloned. The latter remarks that as far as he - someone very perceptive and very well-informed - can tell, despite the destructive nature of his powers, he's never hurt a fly (demons don't count). Likewise, their even better informed grandmother calls him "endearingly awkward and painfully sincere" as well as a "kind and thoughtful boy". This comes with the downside that for a long time, Gambit doesn't feel he can face him, out of shame and a belief that he's "a bad copy of a better man".
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Is usually the model picture of a calm, collected and polite young man. So it says something about how much he resents his grandmother for never bothering to contact him since his parents died that upon her visit, his anger is visible to the other students. Even Emma is shocked when he is the first to start snarking at her expense rather than his brother Gambit.
- Power Incontinence: He can't control his legendary Eye Beams without his glasses or visor. Strange figures a way around that by chapter 73 of Ghosts.
- Psychic Block Defense: As per standard for one of the X-Men thanks to Charles Xavier, good enough that Emma Frost remarks on its elegance.
- Raised by Grandparents: After being orphaned in a car crash, his grandpa Alex Summers became his guardian.
- Sibling Yin-Yang: Scott is, to put it simply, a complete and utter dork - "endearingly awkward" is his grandmother's take. His genetic copy/clone brother is a walking, talking weapon of mass seduction. The two of them are described as "studies in contrast who could have used each other as shaving mirrors."
- Stronger Than They Look: He's tall and slim (hence his famous nickname), but that slimness isn't so much skinny as lean, and as Jean notes, years of Danger Room training from Logan mean that he's got one hell of a right hook.
- Tall, Dark, and Handsome: Increasingly, beneath the dorkishness. Again, his brother is Gambit.
Bobby Drake
Robert 'Bobby' Drake a.k.a. Iceman
- I was pushed to the back last time and people got hurt protecting me. I'm not gonna let that happen again!
A small 11 year old with powers he's terrified of and a Big Brother Bully to contend with, he enters the story in chapter 58 as a profoundly unhappy little boy. Unknown to everyone else, he's an Omega Class mutant. The youngest of the X-Men, his powers flaring out of control is the trigger for the events of chapters 59 and 60 of Child of the Storm and, indirectly, for the Winter Soldier's Heel–Face Turn.
- Adaptational Badass: Very few versions of the character have shown the levels of power that he does, if admittedly uncontrolled, and those that do don't show that kind of power until adulthood.
- An Ice Person: Literally, at one point, leading Uhtred to mistake him for "a very small Frost Giant." He can shift forms at will and controls ice and, it would seem, snow.
- Badass Adorable: He's a small, sweet 11 year old who accidentally triggers what even Thor thinks is an impressively powerful storm (though his powers are being controlled by a Genius Loci), is able to create ice harder than steel and freeze giant werewolves in their tracks, all with a broken arm. He shows his abilities in combat under his own control in the finale of Book I, and does rather well.
- Children Are Innocent: A lot of things go over his head.
- Dark and Troubled Past: See The Woobie.
- Distressed Dude: On his first appearance. In the finale of the first book, he's determined not to be this trope, not to need protecting.
- Expy: In a number of respects, of Elsa, to the point where he's told by his well-meaning father to 'conceal, don't feel' and his powers fully manifest on an icy mountain.
- Hidden Depths: The oneshots reveal that he is rather talented with mathematics, is capable of running several betting pools amongst the student body, capable of rigging one of them, and as a result is described as someone who would terrify Wall Street.
- In Harmony with Nature: Specifically, part of it is in harmony with him.
- Kid Hero: He's only 11/12.
- Living MacGuffin: To the point where chapters 59 and 60 are a fight between HYDRA, who've pulled out all the stops, and Harry and his friends post temporary Plot-Relevant Age-Up, over him. Partly justified because he's an Omega Class mutant, a very rare kind of being indeed, and it's even rarer that one is vulnerable and both Xavier and Magneto are distracted/unable to get involved.
- Physical God: As an Omega Class mutant, he's got the potential for this, as the mountain spirit demonstrates.
- Power Incontinence: His first appearance features a spectacular case of this.
- In chapter 1 of Ghosts where, when a little over-enthusiastic in a game of pool volley-ball with powers, he freezes the entire pool. Thanks to Jean-Paul, no one gets hurt.
- Protectorate: Harry immediately steps in to protect him when he sees that he's being bullied, and thanks to his Bully Hunter tendencies, humiliates Bobby's older brother - though this backfires.
- Put on a Bus: Goes off to the Xavier Institute after the mountain fight, making a cameo in chapter 77 and again in chapter 1 of Ghosts, before being mentioned again in the Oneshots.
- Took a Level in Badass: In chapter 76 of CoS, when he wields his powers in combat by himself.
- The Woobie: When he first turns up. He's got powers that he can't hope to control that he's constantly told with the best intentions to repress (literally, 'to conceal, don't feel') by his father, while his mother's in denial and refuses to acknowledge what's happening, and he consequently loses control of, he's got a Big Brother Bully who torments him out of fear, ultimately breaking his arm, and then he's hunted by HYDRA, who want to make him a Living Weapon under their control. Thankfully, a sympathetic mountain spirit steps in, guiding him to safety, as do Harry and his friends, and after it's all over, a recovered Charles Xavier arrives to enrol him at the Institute.
Storm
Ororo Munroe a.k.a. Storm
One of the most powerful members of the X-Men, part of the Senior Faculty at the Institute and resident Team Mom. A lovely, elegant and cultured woman, she is nevertheless one of the last people you want to cross.
- Badass Teacher: Part of the Xavier Institute faculty and one of its most powerful members. In the sequel, Harry's inner monologue compares her to Minerva McGonagall in terms of both attitude and power (and white hair).
- Cultured Badass: According to Word of God.
- The Ghost: Only appears in passing in Child of the Storm, finally appearing properly in Ghosts.
- Lady of War: Beautiful, graceful, and absolutely deadly.
- Living Legend: Implied to have acquired quite the reputation, with Gambit hinting that, as per canon, she was a thief of renown back in the day.
- Mystical White Hair: As per usual.
- Not So Above It All: Like the rest of the staff, she's involved in the betting pool on when Scott and Jean finally get together.
- Out of Focus: Compared to Logan, Charles, and Hank, she doesn't appear much, usually only being mentioned.
- Team Mom: Her first substantive appearance is consoling Lorna after the latter found out about being made an Unperson by Essex.
- Weather Manipulation: Her highly formidable power set. She's not quite an Omega Class being, but like Xavier, she's close enough that practically speaking, it makes no difference.
New Members from Ghosts of the Past onwards
The following members join the X-Men and the Xavier Student Body after during Ghosts of the Past, starting from the Forever Red arc.
Beware! Spoilers for after Forever Red are unmarked.
Noriko
Noriko Ashida a.k.a. Surge
One of the Red Room's superhuman prisoners. A sarcastic and outspoken electrokinetic, her time as a prisoner hasn't damped her defiance.
- Blessed with Suck: As per canon, her powers have to be regulated by her gauntlets.
- The Cynic: Like her canon counterpart.
- Deadpan Snarker: Her immediate response to Carol asking if she can channel lightning is, "Do I look like Thor?"
- Hot-Blooded: Carol, who's no slouch in this department, observes that she has a very bad temper. Given the circumstances, this is entirely forgivable.
- Made of Iron: Manages to channel a considerable amount of lightning through herself into Carol's shield and not suffer anything more than unconsciousness and mild scorching.
- Nerves of Steel: Keeps her head in the face of the rampaging Blob!Dudley, which considering he was in the process of beating the crap out of Nezhno, is saying something.
- Only Sane Man: Is incredulous at Harry and Carol's tendency to banter and/or flirt at the most in-opportune of moments.
- Power Limiter: Wears a potentially lethal one while trapped in the Red Room, like the others.
- Shock and Awe: An electrokinetic who can channel a very respectable amount of lightning into Carol's shield.
- Snark-to-Snark Combat: With Carol. She does better than most people.
- Sour Supporter: She snipes at, and pokes holes in, Carol's plans at every opportunity, remarking that the only ways anyone gets out of the Red Room are in a uniform or a coffin, but she does grudgingly go along with them.
- Unperson: Like Lorna, though this is presumably remedied by Xavier, Jean, and Maddie.
Lorna
Lorna Dane a.k.a. Polaris
One of the Red Room's superhuman prisoners in Ghosts of the Past. Has magnetic powers, and is suspected by Carol to be the daughter or granddaughter of Magneto. This suspicion is confirmed by way of magical DNA test in chapter 11.
- Adaptational Nationality: In this 'verse, she's Australian.
- Age Lift: Sort of. Her canon counterpart is broadly of an age with the Original Five X-Men, maybe a few years younger, and that broadly fits (save for Beast, who's in his sixties at least), but she's also of an age with a lot of the canon Young X-Men.
- Badass Family: Daughter of Magneto, half-sister of the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, and half-aunt of Hermione Granger. This also technically includes Harry, given that Wanda is Harry's maternal Parental Substitute and Magneto admits more than a few grandfatherly feelings towards him.
- Break the Cutie: While imprisonment by the Red Room didn't quite manage it, finding out that Sinister pulled a telepathic Unperson on her to cover his tracks, meaning that her own mother didn't remember her did.
- Character Focus: Thanks to her lineage, she gets a bit more than most of the other Red Room prisoners.
- Luke I Am Your Sister: Magical DNA testing confirms she's Wanda's much younger half-sister.
- Magnetism Manipulation: Her main power, potentially on par with her father's. It's what makes Carol correctly suspect that her family tree is far more interesting than previously believed.
- Nice Girl: Friendly, sweet, and tries to gently break it to Carol that her friend, Harry, won't come back from his visit to 'the Beast'. As it turns out, she's 100% wrong about this, but it's an understandable assumption.
- Power Glows: Hers glows, appropriately, lime green.
- Power Limiter: Wears a potentially lethal one while in the Red Room, like the others.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: Somewhat downplayed, at least, but Magneto mentions that he usually visits her rather than the other way around due to her associating the decor of 'Asteroid M' with her captivity in the Red Room.
- Shock and Awe: She can't generate electricity, but she can channel it, helping Noriko pour a respectable amount of lightning into Carol's shield.
- Strong, but Unskilled: Starts out as this, though between what the Red Room have taught her, and the considerably kinder tutelage of her father, she's getting to be fairly capable.
- Unperson: For a while, courtesy of Sinister.
- You Can't Go Home Again: Courtesy of Sinister, no one in Australia remembers her. Her own mother forgot she had a daughter and thought that someone was playing a tasteless joke on her when Lorna got into contact. No wonder she starts crying. Thankfully, Xavier and Maddie are able to undo this.
Nezhno
Nezhno Abidemi a.k.a. Gentle
One of the Red Room's superhuman prisoners. Quiet, tattooed, half-Wakandan, half-Russian, and has Super-Strength.
- The Big Guy: For the Red Room prisoners, being by far the strongest (physically), capable of mixing it up with 'the Beast' a.k.a. Blob!Dudley.
- Eye Scream: Dudley goes for his eyes in their brutal brawl.
- Gentle Giant: Carol observes that he's got a gentle vibe. This, unfortunately, doesn't help against 'the Beast' who, though Unskilled, but Strong, is vicious, doesn't hold back, and knows how to cause pain.
- Power Limiter: Wears a potentially lethal one while in the Red Room, like the others.
- The Quiet One: Like his canon counterpart, he doesn't say much.
- Super-Strength: He's strong enough to match 'the Beast' a.k.a. Blob!Dudley, who Thor estimates to be on Volstagg's level, or thereabouts.
- Unperson: Like the others, though it's presumably been undone.
Jono
Jonothon Starsmore a.k.a. Chamber
- Bloody hell!
One of the Red Room's prisoners, though more science experiment than Super-Soldier in waiting, since his powers blew open his chest cavity. British, snarky, and somewhat telepathic, he and Carol - perhaps unsurprisingly - get on rather well.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: Nicer than his canon counterpart by some way.
- Big Brother Instinct: To the rest of the prisoners, since by implication he's the oldest.
- Blessed with Suck: His psychic powers blew a hole in his chest cavity and mouth, forcing him to resort to telepathy until he could, with Maddie's help, create a psychic construct body for himself. Later, he gets a new, fully functional body as a construct body required more effort/concentration than he was willing to spare.
- Catchphrase: "Bloody hell!", to the point where it's his folder quote. When Maddie wonders over his regular usage of it, he points out - accurately - that he's had a lot of reason to do so.
- Character Focus: He gets probably the most focus of the Red Room prisoners, due to his friendship with Maddie and participation in the raid on the Red Room.
- Deadpan Snarker: Frequently, though more gently than Noriko, calling Gambit 'the walking cliché'. It's a large part of why Carol takes to him. He snarks even more after his physical body is killed and he teams up with Maddie, the two developing a Straight Man and Wise Guy dynamic.
- Energy Being: Probably - it's speculated In-Universe (and hinted by Word of God) that he might be a psychic entity like Gorakhnath, making him The Needless. Certainly, Sinister finds him interesting. Becomes one after the Beast snaps his neck and spine, but goes back into a physical body later on, because being an Energy Being means that he's distinctly vulnerable to certain kinds of attacks and he has to concentrate on maintaining a physical form.
- Male Gaze: Even energy beings are, apparently, prone to this, with his being directed at Maddie's butt. She teases him about it in the most deadpan fashion possible.
- Neck Snap: On the receiving end in chapter 10 when Dudley wrings his neck. Since he's an Energy Being, he survives.
- The Needless: He doesn't actually need to eat. After the above incident, it's mentioned that breathing is just a habit.
- The Nicknamer: Prone to giving people nicknames - pre Heel–Face Turn Maddie is 'Death in Black Trousers'/'Gorgeous in Leather Trousers', Gambit is 'The Walking Cliché', Strange is the 'Scary Bugger Supreme' and 'Doctor Frankenstein', Essex is 'Sinister', and Lily/the Phoenix is a 'Cosmic Whatsit'.
- Odd Friendship: Winds up bonding with Maddie, who'd previously been the chief minion of the man who had him kidnapped in the first place. It helps that she's just executed a Heel–Face Turn and that, practically speaking, she was as much a victim as he was, if not more so.
- Power Limiter: He's wearing one, though it doesn't really do much, owing to his odd biology.
- Psychic Powers:
- Though he only really demonstrates basic telepathy, a certain amount of phasing, and possibly energy blasts, since it's mentioned he's being trained for combat, he's potentially got a lot more.
- He's also able to shrug off the psychic fallout of Harry and Maddie's psychic battle royale, which he remarks is one of the 'benefits of a psionic constitution.'
- Required Secondary Powers: If he didn't have them, he'd be dead. As it turns out, they keep him alive even after he's physically dead.
- Ship Tease: With Maddie. They have noticeable chemistry when they're working together to rescue Harry, and much later Harry notes that she seems to be the primary reason that he's staying at the Xavier Mansion.
- Straight Man and Wise Guy: The Wise Guy to Maddie's Straight Woman.
- Telepathy: Though he can only use it to talk, at least to begin with.
- Took a Level in Badass: After two weeks of Maddie's tutelage, he goes from a helpless blob of energy barely able to communicate, having previously been limited to energy blasts, to being able to make his astral form solid (and therefore communicate verbally), fire energy blasts, and phase, with similar effects to Psylocke's psychic weapons when he passes through someone - which allows him to No-Sell Blob!Dudley's attack, then take him out with a simple punch through the brain in their rematch.
- Undying Loyalty: Per Word of God, because of everything Maddie did to help him, he'll follow her anywhere.
- Un-person: Thanks to Sinister, he becomes this for a while.
- Verbal Tic: 'Luv', like Betsy - though it's usually spelt 'luv', rather than Betsy's usual 'love', hinting at the class distinctions.
Kurt
Kurt Wagner a.k.a. Nightcrawler
One of the Red Room's superhuman prisoners. Despite his circumstances, he's cheerful and upbeat.
- Cute Monster Boy: Looks like a blue demon, is generally deemed to be adorable.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Looks like a demon, is possibly one of the sweetest people you'll ever meet.
- Deadpan Snarker: He gets a couple of memorable lines, particularly when he gets nervous.
- Extra-Dimensional Shortcut: How his teleportation works.
- Nice Guy: He's very sweet, and Carol takes an instant liking to him as a result. When he's noted as being the only Red Room prisoner who's physically unscathed by their ordeal, it's also noted that his immediate response is to fret about the others.
- Power Limiter: While imprisoned by the Red Room, he wore a potentially lethal one.
- Religious Bruiser: He can fight when he needs to, and he is quietly but deeply pious.
- Team Chef: At the Institute, being the resident baker according to the Oneshots.
- Teleporters and Transporters: His main power.
- Unperson: Courtesy of Sinister, though this has presumably been undone.
